11 Months Old!!!!!!!!!!

We are T-Minus one month until we have a ONE YEAR OLD. Here is our little 11 month old on her 11 month birthday!




This past week Callie has had some serious bed head! Her hair is growing really fast and it is hilarious to see her after bath time or after sleeping.





How did she get so adorable? :)

After a low key weekend of just hanging out, I'm SOOOOOOO looking forward to a 5 day weekend and lots more baby time and family time.

Blankie

As some of you know, I had (and still have) a blankie that I sleep with at night. In fact, if you were at our wedding, you may remember that my dad incorporated it into his speech:


Well, five years later my daughter has become stuck on a "blankie" as well. Except this "blankie" isn't one of the nice ones she was given as a gift. Instead, it is a burp cloth... actually there are three burp cloths that can pass for the blankie, which I guess will come in handy if we lose one some day. But regardless, she loves them. She rubs them on her face, flails them around and, most importantly, snuggles them and goes right to sleep (usually). Thank goodness for the blankie(s)!

Blankie and Giggles from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It's fun when...

...a play date actually involves playing.

Here are Callie and Wes (the neighbor baby) hanging out:

Weekend Wrap-Up

As I mentioned yesterday we had a grown-ups night last night. It was great to hang out with friends (despite a power outage...we hung out in candlelight!)...though I did find myself in conversation about Callie or babies for most of the night. :) And she did great with MorMor and Bops.

Today Callie and I had our girl time while Chris and Dan played basketball. Then we hung out at the Gosselin's house. It was fun to have everybody together!

Here are some pictures and videos from the weekend.
First snowfall of the season!


Happy Baby

The girls (and a certain 98 %-ile head!)

Bucket of toys from Auntie Cathleen!

Grandpa and Uncle Dan

Reading with Grandma (the Color Book Mommy made!)

First ride in the big girl car seat! Thanks to Grandpa for helping us figure it out. :)


A little bit of dancing, some singing and some really silly faces:

Baby Beluga from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Peek-a-boo books are the best!

Peekaboo from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Letter to Baby

Dear Callie-

I feel like writing you a letter today because I don't feel like I've seen you much. Saturday is usually our day- just us girls. But today I had to do some necessary evils- like clean and cook. You'll learn very quickly that your Daddy and I are not neat and tidy people. So when we actually clean, it takes awhile. So while I was cleaning you got to hang out with your Daddy. Which is great, but I miss you.

Now you're napping and I want you to wake up! But I won't, because I know how much you need the sleep. You're so busy. You're learning so much each day. You're such a happy, sweet, charming, outgoing, funny baby.

You wave and smile at strangers- something that your Henderson aunties and your Mommy NEVER did. We were so shy...I wonder if you'll have your Daddy's personality and be the funny one- thelife of the party.

You love music and animals. Singing songs and seeing your doggy Kona put the biggest smiles on your cute little face.

With your new-found ability to move on your own, you are really wanting to be independent. But every once in a while I'm blessed to have you crawl right over to me, pull yourself up into my lap, and bury your head in my chest. And then, in a flash, you're gone...moving on to other fun toys and getting into more fun trouble.

You have charmed your way into the hearts of SO MANY PEOPLE. And it doesn't take much for you to do that- all you have to do is smile your scrunchy face smile and you have everyone wrapped around your itty bitty pinkie.

Tonight your Daddy and I are going out with friends and MorMor and Bops are coming over to babysit (now do you understand why I spent so much of today doing the necessary evils? hee hee). We're excited to have a night out to do non-baby related things (more specifically, beer related things), but I want you to know that half of mind and all of my heart will be back at the house with you... wondering what you're doing. Wondering if you're going to go to bed okay. Thankful that you are in good hands.

I love you Punkin Head...and now I've made myself cry...silly Mommy...

Love,
Mommy

New Tricks

How is it Friday already? Not that I'm complaining...but the week went by really fast. I guess that seems to be happening in general as it is the middle of November and the holidays are right around the corner. Which means...

...a certain Punkin Head's 1st birthday is right around the corner!

And I can't even fathom that right now. So while I'm trying to ignore the fact that my baby is growing up, she is making it nearly impossible.

In the past week she learned to:
I) crawl...officially (see video from last weekend in Chicago).
II) pull herself up.

Because of I and II, we:
A) had to put her crib mattress lower to the ground.
B) have to put her in her sleep sacks for nap times (along with bed time) so she can't pull herself up in the crib.

Yesterday we:
1) bought a new convertible car seat that we'll start using tomorrow!!!! No more lugging a baby around in an infant carrier.

And along with all these big milestones, she's just so stinking smart! You can just see the neurons firing away in her brain. (I hope that is the right use of biology vocabulary. I watched "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader" tonight and am feeling rather dumb.)

Here are a couple videos of our little genius from this past week:

Dancing...? from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Curious Cat from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Not quite ready for steps from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And a couple of pictures:

Chicago Pics

Thankfully I took the day off today so I could:

1)recover from the weekend, and
2)get some stuff done!

And now I get to add to the list:

3)chase around a baby that is SERIOUSLY on the move.

No more sitting nicely and playing...she is EVERYWHERE. So #1 and #2 will really only happen during nap time. :)

Here are some pictures from Chicago. We hung out in Laura's apartment, went to watch Laura play flag football, went to the zoo, went to a park, and did a lot of eating.













Thanks to Laura for a wonderful trip!